Work

For more than 20 years, Steve has worked in the Brazilian Amazon with indigenous and traditional communities, governments, scientists and the private sector to slow deforestation and protect forests. EDF's Brazilian partners have contributed significantly to Brazil's dramatic success in reducing Amazon deforestation and establishing ambitious national emissions reduction targets.

An anthropologist, Steve lived with the Panará people in the Brazilian Amazon for a year and a half and learned their language.

His areas of expertise include tropical forests, Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD), Brazil and the Amazon, indigenous peoples and incentives for environmental protection.

Background

Before coming to EDF, Steve represented Brazil’s Institute for Socio-Economic Studies (INESC), served as coordinator of the U.S.-Brazil Tropical Forest Action Network and consulted for the Anthropology Resource Center and other indigenous rights organizations.

He received his PhD in Anthropology from the University of Chicago.

Publications

"The natural and social history
of the indigenous lands and protected areas corridor of the Xingu River
basin." Schwartzman, Stephan, et al. Philosophical Transactions of
the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 368.1619 (2013). http://rstb.royalsocietypublishing.org

"Social Movements and
Natural Resource Conservation in the Brazilian Amazon." Schwartzman,
Stephan. The Rainforest Harvest: Sustainable Strategies for Saving the
Tropical Forests? : including the Proceedings of an International Conference
Held at the Royal Geographical Society, London 17-18th May 1990. By Simon
Counsell and Tim Rice. London: Friends of the Earth Trust, 1992. Print.